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Probably not, but lawmakers are working on something that would be even more impressive — cutting the amount of spam you receive.
State Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, introduced a bill that would make it a crime for anyone but nonprofit organizations and the government to send e-mail solicitations that conceal the identity of the sender or attempt to defraud consumers.
The worst violators could face civil and criminal penalties, including felony charges that could draw up to $10,000 in fines and six years in prison under the bill. The penalty could increase by $10,000 if the victim is elderly or disabled.
The bill is aimed at relieving an estimated two million Wisconsin Internet users who are pelted with an average of 30 unsolicited e-mails a day, according to figures compiled by the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Some “savvy” criminals use a bank’s electronic logo to make their messages look authentic in hopes of luring personal information from a consumer, Davis testified during a legislative committee hearing Wednesday on Assembly Bill 685. In other cases, victims reply with a Social Security number in hopes of claiming a lottery prize, Davis said.
This week, Davis modified the bill in an effort to reduce the estimated $1.2 million price tag for enforcement. Rather than require the DATCP go after each violation reported, the agency “may” enforce the law under the substitute bill.
Agency officials estimated the bill, as introduced, would require about 20 employees to handle 20,000 complaints, said Janet Jenkins, administrator of the Division of Consumer Protection.
The price estimate includes the purchase of sophisticated software that would help investigators determine the origin of some messages, Jenkins said.
The department didn’t have enough time to recalculate the potential cost under the revised bill, but the amount spent would determine the threshold for enforcement, Jenkins said.
Tracking down people responsible for sending fraudulent e-mail can be difficult, especially when they might be overseas, Jenkins said.
The Legislative Technical Services Bureau estimates that 2,000 e-mail addresses in the legislative branch alone receive about 15,000 to 38,000 spam messages a day.
State Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, who heads the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Homeland Security, said he hopes the cost of administering the program could be recovered from penalties on violators. But current law limits the amount that can be returned to the agency and the state Department of Justice, which would help prosecute cases, Jenkins said.
The committee may schedule a vote on the bill in the next couple weeks, Suder said.
Tom Sheehan can be reached at tsheehan@madison.com or (608) 252-6198.
